


Don't Bite Your Co-workers!

by SkylerBird



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Biting, Blood Drinking, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Smut, Vampires, more to come - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 22:44:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7241806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkylerBird/pseuds/SkylerBird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rooster Teeth Productions has a secret. It’s actually one of the largest vampire covens in the southern United States. In the Vampire world, they are known for being one of the most accepting covens, the company itself having been run by a human for all of its existence. Recently deciding to hire human employees to work alongside the vampires.<br/>And that’s how Michael got here, working closely alongside some of the most powerful vampires in the coven. And apparently, his blood has a very enticing smell.<br/>What could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> My first RT/AH fic. Enjoy! Feel free to leave comments on anything!

Michael Jones remembers the day of his interview well, partially because he finally had a job, but mostly because it was the day the world as he knew it shattered.

“Well, that’s all the paperwork bull shit that I needed,” the heavily tattooed man sitting across the table from him groaned, leaning back after stapling the pieces together. He stared at the young curly-haired ginger man before him, silently. After a few minutes of this, Michael squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, not able to hold the older man’s gaze. 

“...So, uh… When will I know if I have the job?” the lad asked, twiddling his thumbs.

Geoff leaned forward, linking his fingers together and leaning his elbows on the table. “Well that all depends.”

Michael’s head flicked up. “On-” his entire body tensed at what he saw. Geoff’s eyes were no longer blue, but instead a deep red. His skin was paler, and Michael sword he could see the older man’s canine teeth sticking out of his upper lip. “...what…” he finished his question, asking a new one in the same word.

Geoff couldn’t help the light chuckle that left his lips, smiling a bit. His fangs glinted in the light, making Michael jump a bit. “I gotta say, Jones, this is looking promising.” he purred, closing his eyes again for a moment before opening them, blue once more. “Everyone else I’ve interviewed so far ran for the hills the second they saw my eyes, let alone my fangs.”

The lad managed to compose himself, shaking his head a bit. “You’re a vampire.” he murmured in disbelief, mostly to himself.

“Actually, most of our employees are vampires.”

Michael whirled around, seeing a man standing in the doorway. He instantly recognized him from Red Vs Blue as Matt Hullum, the CEO. “Not me, though.” the man continued. “Honestly though, it doesn’t take long to forget that everyone around you are immortal, super-strong demons. Just becomes normal, I guess.”

Matt placed a single piece of paper in front of Michael on the table. His eyes met Geoff’s, and the vampire nodded silently. The CEO cleared his throat. “Seeing as you’re still here, I can only assume that you’re either too shocked to move, or you are still interested in the job. I hope it’s the latter. You’d make a great addition to the team. That being said, if you are still interested, I will need to have you sign this nondisclosure agreement.” he pulled out a pen and placed it in Michael’s hand.

The young human gulped, reading it over. It was pretty straight forward, saying he wouldn’t release the vampires’ identities to the press, the government, or anyone else that could harm the coven in any way. It also ensured that while working there, he would be under the protection of the company’s “bite” policy, which in short stated that no one could bite, lick, suck, or drink any of his blood without his permission.

This was the strangest job interview ever, and a voice in the back of Michael’s head told him to leave. There would be other opportunities. So, naturally, he signed the paper.

* * *

 

After showing him the basics, like the kitchen and bathroom, Geoff lead Michael into the Achievement Hunter office. Every person they passed had Michael wondering if they were a vampire or not. From what Matt had said, chances are they were.

Once in the office, Michael was met by four curious gazes, and varying degrees of smiles. Michael jumped when there was suddenly a scrawny, wiry man in front of him, following a vaguely bird sounding noise. His eyes widened as the man began chattering a mile a minute, spewing out question after question, and the red-head couldn’t keep up. He was distracted by the man’s small razor-sharp fangs that he could see whenever he opened his mouth. They weren’t even half the size of Geoff’s, but still, they were fangs. 

The ball of energy in front of him squaked as Geoff grabbed him by the back of his neck, dragging him back. “This big-nosed idiot is Gavin. Don’t let his appearance fool you, he’s old. Even older than me.” the gent huffed, shoving the british man back into his chair.

He motioned a tattooed hand towards a large bearded man. “This is Jack. He helped me start this whole Achievement Hunter thing. He’s also probably one of the calmest here, and you can go to him for anything. He claims he’s a vampire, and sure he has fangs, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him drink anything but synthetic blood.”

Jack chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. “Geoff, you know I was around before the invention of synthetic blood. There was a good decade there where I had to raid blood bags for food.”

Geoff rolled his eyes. “My point remains, you’ve never bitten anything.” Michael and Jack’s noses both wrinkled in disgust. The bearded gent grunted that he didn’t plan on ever biting anything, before turning back to his work. “Alright, next is Ryan. We all joke a lot that he’s a crazy mother fucker, but I’m like pretty sure he isn’t. He’s the third oldest vampire in this coven, just behind Burnie and Joel.”

Ryan swiveled around in his chair, a smirk on his face. His eyes quickly glanced up and down Michael’s body, and his smirk grew to a cocky grin, his large fangs glinting in the light. His bright blue eyes glittered red for a second before going back. “Nice to meet you, Michael. Glad to see the human introduction policy seems to be working. Just let me know if any vampire gives you any trouble, and I’ll handle it for you.”

Michael blushed, nodding and looking at his feet, anywhere really except the incredibly hot older man. 

“And last but not least,” Geoff continued, not noticing the interaction between Ryan and Michael. “Jeremy. He’s the youngest among us. Hasn’t even been a vampire a whole year.” Michael looked at the man and smiled, comforted that this man would know what it’s like to be a human still.

Michael settled into his new desk, and it wasn’t long before they were recording a Let’s Play. He was enjoying himself pretty quickly, and forgot about just what the other men were for a while. It wasn’t until he cracked a joke and glanced over at Ryan, who was laughing hard, that he remembered. His face paled and he shuddered, eyes fixed on the gent for maybe a second too long. He blushed and went back to playing the game, stumbling over his words for a moment before catching his momentum again and joining in on the action and jokes.

They sat in the kitchen at the empty table at lunch, and Geoff asked Michael if he had any questions about anything at all, about the job or about vampires.

“I do have one actually.” Michael said, his voice a little hesitant at first. “But… if it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer it.” he saw their expectant gazes and took a deep breath. “Geoff, you mentioned that some of you guys were like really old. I know that you guys are all like immortal and shit, but… um… how did you guys become vampires?”

There was silence, and Michael panicked, thinking he had overstepped. But then Jeremy placed his juice bag down, which Michael had learned earlier was synthetic blood, and wiped his mouth off quickly before answering. “Well, a little over half a year ago, I was attacked in the streets by a rogue vampire. Burnie and Matt found me. They later told me that they don’t think that the vampire had meant to turn me. Not that I care, I’m just glad they got to me in time to complete the change. I try not to think about what would have happened otherwise.” Jeremy just smiled at the end and shrugged, an ‘oh well’ expression on his face.

Jack cleared his throat. “I guess it’s only fitting to go into the next youngest. It was back in the 70’s for me. I went in for an annual check up, and my doctor suspected something. So he sent me to a specialist at the hospital.” Jack smirked over at Michael. “Actually, you’ve probably seen him in some of our videos. His name is Joel.”

Michael raised an eyebrow, showing some of his shock. “Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. Joel Heyman used to be a doctor? Joel fucking Heyman? What the fuck is he doing here then?”

Jack chuckled and shrugged. “Guess he just got bored of being a doctor for as long as he was one.” he waved his hand a bit, brushing that topic aside. “Anyway, it was skin cancer that had spread. He didn’t give me that long to live, a few months really. He wanted to keep me overnight to make sure there wasn’t anything he had missed.” Jack sighed, his smile fading. “I think he knew what would happen. He found me on the roof that night, and grabbed me just as I jumped. I couldn’t figure out how he had gotten to me as fast as he had. And his eyes. They were so red. After yelling at me for being an idiot for a while, he asked me why I would just throw my life away. I told him it was because I was afraid of dying, and I didn’t want to spend the last few months of my life afraid every single day. So, he gave me a choice. He told me I’d never have to be afraid of death again. And, the rest is history.”

Geoff huffed, rolling his eyes. He stretched nonchalantly. “Alright, enough of the sentimental crap. The story of my turning is short, sweet, and to the point. Fought for the Union in the Civil War. Some Confederate asshole was actually a vampire, and decided the best way to stop the north was to turn us all. In the end, only a couple of us survived the change. I mean, I don’t know what they were expecting. Only something like one in seven people actually survive turning into a vampire. Hell, the only reason Jeremy didn’t die was because there wasn’t a lot of venom put into his system in the first place.”

“Hey! You don’t know that.” Jeremy grumbled, crossing his arms. “Get back to your story, will ya?”

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, this vampire was expecting us to just blindly follow him ‘cause I guess that’s how it’s supposed to happen. He was supposed to be our master or something. Fuck that. So I pretended like nothing happened. But turns out you can’t just ignore being a vampire.” Geoff’s eyes got dark, before he shook his head, deciding not to get into it. “But it doesn’t matter. I met up with Burnie in the 20’s, and he had this awesome idea to sell blood-traced alcohol during Prohibition! I think I fell in love instantly!” Geoff swooned, batting his eyelashes and making a show of it. “Anyway, I decided anyone that can sneak alcohol past even the stiffest officers was someone worth following. I became one of the first members of his coven.”

Gavin bounced over, throwing himself over Michael’s back, earning a swear from the ginger lad. “Oh, oh, my turn!” he cooed, swinging over and slipping into the seat beside the boy. “I came to America back in 1763.” he giggled when he saw Michael’s eyebrows shoot up in shock. “Anyway, when war broke out, I had grown sympathetic to the cause, so I took up a musket and headed to Bunker Hill.”

“Didn’t we lose that battle?” Michael asked, thinking hard back into his old middle school history class days.

Gavin nodded solemnly. “Yeah. So I was lying there, bullet holes in my chest, and there’s Burnie. ‘Wow, look’s like we’ve got a live one here, Joel’ he said.” Gavin did his best voice imitation of Burnie. “So then Joel walks over and he’s all ‘poor lad’s got some real fight in him.’ After that Joel leans down and I feel this sharp pain in my neck. Then I got real cold. Then I-”

“Gavin, let’s er… not talk about the details of turning, okay?” Geoff snapped, quickly calming down. “Just, get on with it.”

Gavin tilted his head to the side with confusion, but decided to agree. “Well, I went back to England after that, spent my time as an investigator, hopping from one area to another whenever someone got suspicious of my aging or lack thereof. Met up with my B Dan during the second war, and we enlisted. He nearly died at the hands of some Nazi. So, what could I do? He already knew who I was, and he wanted to keep fighting. So I turned him. Only person I’ve ever turned. Nearly lost him, too. After the war was over, he decided to stay in the army. I came back to America and decided to find Burnie, met Geoff. We all headed out here to Texas, and have been just hanging around since!” the brit beamed, little fangs showing.

Michael smiled back, actually not flinching this time. “Wow, that’s pretty cool actually. To think you’ve lived all that time. Hey, I thought old dudes were supposed to be bad at technology and games and shit!”

“That’s what I said!” Jeremy snickered, and the two lads howled in laughter.

“Micoo! That isn’t very nice! And not true at all!” Gavin pouted, which Michael quickly got rid of by punching him in the arm, making the vampire yelp and glare at him, trying to be mad though a smile was returning to his features.

Michael snickered more before looking up at Ryan, who had been very quiet. “What about you?”

Ryan smirked and gave him a crooked grin, fangs flashing. “Oh, I’m nothing like them.” his voice was low. He stood up and reached over, leaning his body weight on his hands on the table, his face close to Michael’s. “You see, I wasn’t bitten. I was born a monster. I’m what’s known as a Pureblood. Not that many of us are out there. Humans nearly wiped us out a thousand years ago, when I was a kid.”

Michael froze, his eyes locked on the man close to him. A thousand years… The vampire purred in his ear, his breath tickling his skin. “Tell me, have you heard of Dracula?” he heard the boy gasp and smirked more, chuckling. “I’m his son.” he said, moving away and sitting back down. He saw the boy catching his breath before shaking himself out of it, pretending nothing had happened. “There are only a few vampires out there who can trace their bloodlines to an ancient vampire family. Even less can say they are direct members of those families. Burnie and I both hold that honor.”

“Alright, Ryan.” Geoff growled softly, glaring at the man before putting a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “No need to be all creepy about it. Come on guys, lunch is over.”

Michael perked himself up, snickering and looking at Gavin. “Know what that means?” Gaving looked confused before his eyes widened in understanding.

“Michael… Michael no… I don’t want to no! NO!” He bolted off at full vamp speed, and Michael cursed, jumping up and racing after him. “I SAID I WAS SORRY!” the brit squaked.

“Sorry doesn’t make the redbull un-break my keyboard, idiot! It’s revenge time!” Michael’s playful snarl came from down the hall.

Geoff sighed and shook his head. He was glad that the two lads were getting along. He knew Gavin could become friends with just about anyone in a minute flat. Jeremy and Jack had walked back into the office. Geoff turned to Ryan, seeing the elder vampire had a frown on his face. “What’s wrong?”

Ryan looked up at him after a moment, his eyes focusing like he hadn’t been paying attention. “Sorry, Geoff. Just… there’s something about that human. Something in his smell.” Geoff heard a soft rumble of a purr in the others throat.

“Ryan, no. You know better.” Geoff scolded, shaking a finger. “And this kid is new! We need to let him get used to all this, or we’ll scare him away. And I don’t think Gavin would ever forgive you for scaring Michael away. I haven’t seen him this happy in decades.”

Ryan frowned more and looked away. “I know. Sorry. Just my instincts I guess.” he reached in his pocket and grabbed out his smartphone. “Hey, don’t we have a Gavin getting beat up by a human to video?” he grinned up at the tattooed man.

Geoff smirked and grabbed his own phone. “Let’s make sure we get some good angles.”


	2. Accidents Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan teaches Michael about the more intimate lives of vampires.
> 
> Gavin accidently hurts Michael, and Ryan isn't prepared for that.

Michael had been working at Rooster Teeth for almost a month now. Matt was right, he didn’t really notice that his co-workers were mostly vampires anymore. It just didn’t matter anymore. He was still amazed by how little he actually knew about them, though. Vampires were way more complex than just biting and drinking blood.

For instance, Gavin and Geoff hadn’t shown up to work for half the week. He reached for his phone, searching through his contacts, ready to call the two men who had been ignoring his texts, when Jack’s hand over his phone’s screen stopped him. “I wouldn’t do that.” the man rumbled.

“Why not?” Michael snapped, glaring up at him. “What if they’re really sick! I don’t know what kind of weird diseases you vampires get, but I bet they can’t be-”

“Gavin’s in heat.” Ryan stated simply from his seat, twirling around so his bright blue eyes rested on the ginger human.

Michael blinked a few times, trying to process the information. “What the fuck is heat?”

Jack muttered something under his breath about not being paid enough for this, and Jeremy quickly escaped the room, blushing bright red. Ryan stood from his chair and sauntered over, smirking. He shooed Jack away with a hand, and it was just Michael and Ryan in the room. “Tell me, Michael, how much do you know about vampires?”

Michael frowned, looking up at the large vampire. “What’s there to know? You’re super fast, super strong, you don’t really like the sun, and you use your fangs to feed on blood so you can live forever.” Ryan started laughing, which annoyed Michael, his face turning red as he fumed underneath his skin.

“If only it were that simple.” Ryan snickered, leaning against Michael’s desk,crossing his arms. “There are three types of vampires. Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. Alpha’s are born leaders, which is why each coven is headed by an Alpha, like Burnie. Under the right circumstances, they can be very dominating and aggressive. They’re usually tougher looking, more muscles, taller, and their fangs are longer.” Ryan grinned, his own large fangs showing off.

“So you’re an Alpha?” Michael asked, leaning back a bit from the show of fangs.

Ryan nodded. “Most purebloods are. After Alphas, you have Betas. They’re cool, calm, collected, Jack in a nutshell. Jack is a beta by the way, so is Jeremy. They keep Alpha’s from going into a frenzied rut when an Omega in heat is around.” He held up a hand to silence Michael as he saw a million questions cross the youngers mind. “Omegas like Gavin are the opposite of Alphas. They tend to be smaller, thinner, weaker, and have smaller fangs. They’re submissive, playful, and generally very social. Once every few months or so Omegas go into heat. There’s no nice way to put this, they go crazy with a need to be bred by an Alpha.”

Michael let out a little squeak, his face bright red. Ryan didn’t miss the lad shuffling in his seat. He snickered. “When an Alpha smells an Omega in heat, they can go into rut, where all they want to do is breed the Omega. Since Geoff is Gavin’s Alpha, and Gavin is in heat, they’re basically not able to answer your texts because they’re too busy fucking. I bet Gavin won’t even let Geoff’s knot go until this whole thing is over.”

Michael gulped, knowing he was going to regret this question. “Kn-knot?”

Ryan raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Ah, I forgot humans don’t have those. Alpha’s have a knot on their dicks. It plugs up their Omega, keeping them from spilling as they’re bred. Increases the chances of something catching, if it could. Only purebloods can breed or be bred.” he leaned forwards, hands resting on either side of Michael’s chair arms, trapping the boy whose face was inches away. “Though I’m sure Geoff’s knot has nothing on mine.” he purred, silently inhaling Michael’s scent. It was faint, seeing as he was human, but something in the warm cinnamon scent drew the vampire in more.

“Y-you’re being a dick Ryan, stop teasing me!” Michael huffed, shoving the vampire in his chest. Ryan rolled his eyes and pretended to be shoved away, though it wasn’t a very effective push. “Don’t need to know about your weird ass dicks.” Michael muttered, turning away.

Ryan chuckled a bit. “Sorry, I just can’t resist making humans squirm. Especially you, you’re just too adorable.” he heard Michael huff in protest. He shrugged and sat back in his chair, turning back into his work. He didn’t expect the next question, that came from a very quiet voice.

“Have you ever turned anyone?”

Ryan froze and turned back around, trying to read the human’s face, but he was turned away. He was silent for a moment before he sucked in a nervous breath. “No. Not successfully, at least. I’ve tried over the centuries a few times. But the problem is my venom. A normal vampires venom kills 85% of the time. A purebloods venom kills nearly every time, 99%. I’ve only ever used it when I was desperate.” he paused some more. “I loved them all. After the last one, back in the 1500’s, I swore I would never try again. And I swore I would never get close to a human again. I’ve had my heart broken too many times thanks to their short lifespans.” Ryan jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. He blinked and looked at it, then up at it’s owner. Michael was giving him a gentle smile. 

“I’m sorry you’ve had to live through that.” Michael murmured softly. “But, you shouldn’t let that keep you from getting close to humans.”

Ryan felt his heart pick up in his chest, and for the first time in centuries he could feel it racing again. “I don’t think I have a choice anymore.” he rumbled, his voice low and deep in his chest. “Thank you, Michael.”

Michael smiled more, walking back over to his chair. “Any time, Ryan. Any time.”

* * *

 

Gavin was back in the office the next week, happier than usual, if that were possible. Michael could catch what sounded like purring coming from Geoff’s desk throughout the day. The Alpha vampire was clearly very happy.

It wasn’t long before hijinks ensued between the two lads. Gavin and Michael had been recording a Let’s Play together, when Gavin fucked it up for the millionth time, and the kill screen flashed bright on the scream. Michael let out a roar of frustration, shoving his headphones off his head and tackling the brit tot he ground.

Ryan couldn’t help the swell of pride in his chest, seeing Michael pin Gavin. He could see Michael’s muscles tensing under his skin as he struggled against the more powerful Omega vampire. Sitting there, Ryan found himself thinking what a good Alpha vampire Michael would be. Except so much about him, even his smell, screamed Omega. Ryan sighed, rubbing his forehead. What was he thinking? Michael was human, and therefore not assigned to any class. He found himself thinking more and more about the human. A bit too much for his liking.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Michael’s shriek of pain. His head shot up to see the lad gripping his shoulder, tears pricking at the edges of his eyes and his face contorted in agony. His shirt was torn just under the collar, and darkening red. Then the sweet smell hit. Ryan had smelled his fair share of blood over the years, and he’d learned to control his urges. But this blood made him lurch an inch towards Michael before catching himself, his now bright red dilated eyes fixed on the shoulder.

Gavin yelped and ran over to Michael, hovering around him nervously, trying to figure out how to help. His blood clearly wasn’t affecting the british vampire the way it was Ryan. Geoff was scolding the boy for being too rough with the human while hurrying Jeremy out of the room, the blood too much for the young vampire. Jack had grabbed the first aid kit and was rushing to Michael’s side.

Apparently the wound was accidently caused by Gavin shoving Michael into the edge of a desk so hard that it actually splintered the table, and the wood had cut him open. More concerning to Ryan, however, was the awkward angle Michael was holding his shoulder at. In a second, he was kneeling next to him, hand on his good shoulder. “Michael, look at me.” his voice sounded strain from the effort. Jack noticed this, and gave Ryan a warning. The man brushed it off, telling him to get Gavin out and watch the door, in case others in the building could smell Michael.

Michael sniffed and looked up at Ryan, holding back the tears of pain. He gasped and froze when he saw the elder’s blood red eyes. “R-ryan?” he whimpered. “You’re eyes…”

Ryan cursed himself and took a deep breath. “I know. It’s your blood. It’s smell.” he took a deep breath, regretting it instantly, and choked slightly. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I’ve got centuries of practice. Listen, your shoulder is dislocated. Jack’s going to get Joel, but I’m going to try and pop it back into place. It’ll hurt, but please bare with me.

Michael gulped and nodded, bracing himself as Ryan gingerly held his bad shoulder. He gave the human one more sorry look before moving mast, jerking the shoulder until he heard a pop. Michael screamed in pain and fell forward, his body being held up by Ryan as he shuddered, trying to breathe past the pain. Ryan held him close, apologizing again and again. He hadn’t noticed his breathing had gotten heavy and that his own body was shaking. Or that his eyes had zeroed in on his hand, which had some of Michael’s blood on it. He let out a groan as he licked a finger, the taste exploding on his tongue. His eyes immediately jumped to Michael’s neck, and he felt a blood lust he hadn’t felt in centuries, and his fangs started to tingle as his jaw opened on its own.

It was lucky that Joel, Burnie and Matt ran in when they did. Burnie and Joel saw the telltale signs of a vampire about to bite, and leapt into action. Joel was at Michael in an instant, pulling him away from Ryan. With great speed, Burnie had Ryan pinned against the far wall, snarling in his face and baring his fangs at the lesser Alpha. At first, Ryan hissed back, but quickly lost the dominance battle against his superior, and exposed his neck in submission. Seeing that his eyes were still bright red. As he was dragged out of the office, his eyes fell back on Michael, worry overwhelming him. He could sense Joel using his vampiric power, sending waves of calming energy to the lad telepathically. Matt was asking how this had happened. They seemed to have this under control.

* * *

Burnie shoved the younger pureblood into his office, slamming the door behind him. “What the hell was that?!” he snarled, getting in Ryan’s face, backing him into a wall. “To fall a slave to your bloodlust at the mere sight of blood? What are you, a fledgeling? You’re over a thousand years old, Ryan! This is inexcusable!”

“I’m sorry Burnie!” Ryan whined, baring his neck to the man, not keeping eye contact. “I don’t know what happened! It- I- his blood, his smell, I couldn’t stop.” Ryan felt tears hit his cheeks. “My God, I almost bit him…” a look of horror fell on his face. “He just tasted so-”

“YOU TASTED HIS BLOOD?!” Burnie roared, slamming Ryan into the wall, cracking the drywall behind him. “You know how bad that is?! That is not allowed here, Ryan!”

“I can’t help it Burnie! I can’t stop thinking about him!” Ryan hissed, shoving the man back in a rare act of defiance. “Clearly, the others can’t smell him the way I can, but it’s all I can think about.”

Burnie took a step back, taking in the sight of his friend, his eyes flickering back and forth between blue and red, panting and shaking. 

“...Ryan, do you realize what’s happening to you?” Burnie asked in a quiet voice. He watched as Ryan’s eyes widened, and fear flashed in his eyes.

Ryan growled, turning away. “No, you’re wrong. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ryan, you can’t ignore this! It’ll only get worse, and unlike you, he may not be able to survive the symptoms he experiences!” Burnie tried to reason with his friend, who was now pushing past him and opening the door to leave.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Burnie. You’re wrong.” Ryan snarled, glaring back at him, his eyes a cold blue now. “It’s been nearly two thousand years since you found your bonded mate, you wouldn’t know what signs to look for anymore.” and with that, he slammed the door behind him. 

Burnie sighed and rubbed his temples, sitting down. “Ryan…” he whispered to the empty room. “You can’t ignore this, my friend.”


	3. Something's Up with Michael (Ryan/Michael I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan has been avoiding Michael since the incident.
> 
> Michael has been acting strange.
> 
> Ryan/Michael I (some smut)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be need for trigger warnings? So see the end notes for that (you know to prevent spoilers and all)

It happened slowly at first. Michael was a little more quiet in the office, and when asked if he was alright, he simply said he hadn’t been sleeping well, and shrugged it off.

He was eating alone more at lunch, but no one bothered him much about it. Geoff and Gavin were still in their post-heat glow, often in their own little world. Jack and Jeremy spent most of their time together, Beta-bonding as the group liked to call it. Ryan had been keeping his distance since the incident. He didn’t like how often his thoughts wandered to the taste of Michael’s blood, and wanted to avoid temptation.

Joel had cared for Michael’s shoulder injury, glad that Ryan had managed to pop it back into place. He had decided that the boy didn’t need stitches for the cut, and had bandaged it up. He asked Michael to come in everyday before work started so he could change the bandage and see how it was healing. After a couple weeks, he determined the boy was good as new.

He had noticed something strange, however, about Michael. As the days went on, the boy had gained dark circles under his eyes. At first, he figured that the pain of his shoulder kept him up at night. Now, however, he was growing a little concerned.

A month after the incident, he had seen Michael sitting alone at lunch. He walked up behind him, not intending to scare the boy at all. He didn’t anticipate his “Hey, Michael.” to cause the human to jump a foot in the air from his seat. “Woah, easy there buddy.” Joel said, placing a calming hand on the other’s shoulder. He sat across from him, eyebrows furrowing. “What’s going on, Michael? And don’t try telling me that you’re fine. You don’t look fine.”

Michael glared at the vampire for a while before sighing, shoulders slumping forward. “I don’t know, Joel. I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking about Ryan… I know he tasted my blood Joel.” He saw the man across from him tense, and he looked away, a slight blush on his face. “I know I should be freaked out. And grossed out. But I’m not. It’s almost like…”

Joel raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to finish. “Almost like… what?”

Michael shook his head, standing up. “Nothing, Joel.” he gave a small smile, grabbing his things. “I got to go back to work. Thanks for the concern, but I’m fine, really. See you around.” with that, he walked away.

Joel sighed and pulled out his phone, opening his messages and sending a text to Burnie.

_ Michael’s acting weird. You think it’s the Ryan thing? _

Almost instantly he saw the dancing dots on the screen, indicating the other vampire was writing back.

_ -Damn it. It has to be, but Ryan won’t listen to me. What do we do? _

After a moment of thought, Joel prepared his response.

_ Maybe he’s right, maybe you are overreacting a bit. I mean, sure it was weird that he reacted to the blood the way he did, but maybe he hadn’t eaten in awhile. _

_ -Oh don’t you start with me too, Joel. _

_ I’m just saying, Burns. Maybe you’re just wanting Ryan to be bonded to this kid, so that you can relate with him on the whole “finding your human bondmate” thing. I mean, it’ll probably be like sixty years before you can connect over no longer having bondmates but still. _

_ -Shut up, Joel. _

The vampire rolled his eyes, locking his phone and putting it back in his pocket. Truth was, he did think Burnie was overreacting. It was so rare for a pureblood to find their human bondmate, most never did. Burnie had found and lost his so long ago, it honestly baffled him that he was still hung up over the loss of the human. Yet, apparently purebloods rarely ever get past the loss, some even going so far as to end their lives. He knew from experience over the millennias that sometimes Burnie needed someone to take his mind of his long dead human.

He really hoped Burnie was wrong.

* * *

 

The Achievement Hunter vampires got nervous when Michael started drinking at work. Sure, Geoff did it all the time, but this was a new development for the human lad. It got so bad that one day Jack had to wrestle the car keys from the drunk boys hands before driving him home himself.

Nothing could have prepared them for what came next.

They were halfway through recording when Gavin glanced up at the audio sync, noticing Michael’s was still and silent. “Hey, boi, is your mic working?”

Michael jumped a bit before glancing at the other lad. “Huh, yeah, why?” his voice recording spiked with his words.

Gavin frowned. Michael was usually never this quiet. He watched the human toss a beer can into his recycling he was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up, and the dark circles under his eyes seemed particularly bad today. “Sorry, Gav. I’m just really tired. Didn’t sleep much last night.”

The vampire thought a moment before beaming, an idea coming to mind. “Come on, Micoo! I have an idea that’ll wake you up and get you smiling in no time!” he cooed, reaching over and grabbing the boy’s forearm tightly and pulling.

Michael hissed in pain, snatching his arm back. All heads turned to him almost instantly, confusion and concern on their faces. “Damn it, Gavin, I said I’m fine! Why can’t you all just leave me the fuck alone?” the human snapped before standing up and storming out of the room. 

“Micoo?” Gavin whimpered, moving towards the door before he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Ryan.

“Go back to the game, Gavin. I’ll find Michael.” When he was met with skeptical looks, he clarified. “I’m already dead, so it’s not like I’m any use to the game until the next round anyway. Besides, whatever you all have been doing to get him to talk hasn’t been working. My turn now.” with that, he left the room.

Ryan followed the weak scent trail Michael had left. He heard quiet curses coming from inside the bathroom, and frowned. He was surprised to find the door unlocked, so he opened it slowly. Less than a second later, the smell hit him. Blood. Michael’s blood.

His mind argued with itself for a second. He had to close the door before others noticed, and he shouldn’t be left alone with Michael, especially his with his blood after what happened before. But he had to know if the boy was okay. Why was he bleeding?

In the end, his concern convinced him to step inside and close the door behind him, looking over at Michael in front of the sink. He sucked in a breath in shock, eyes focusing on his wrist, the source of the blood.

His wrists were riddled with parallel cuts of varying degrees of healing. Michael was gripping paper towels to a particularly deep one that seemed to be bleeding, Ryan assumed Gavin grabbing him had opened it again. 

Michael looked over at Ryan and horror flashed on his face. “Ryan? Fuck. Ryan! I-it isn’t what it looks like!” he whimpered quickly, his voice cracking. The vampire walked over to the human slowly and took his wrist in his hand, removing Michael’s hand and the paper towel. The blood started pricking up and rolling over his wrist again, and the boy winced at the stinging sensation.

“Why?” Ryan whispered softly. When Michael didn’t answer, his voice became more firm, his grip harder on the arm. “Why?” he growled low in his throat, his voice shaking. 

Michael met his eyes, expecting to see red. There was instead a harsh, cold blue, studying his face for any hint of a lie. “I don’t know.” he murmured, looking away. “I couldn’t sleep, and it felt like my skin was crawling. I don’t know why I did it, but it worked. Fuck, Ryan, what’s wrong with me?”

Ryan sighed and flicked his gaze back down to the wrist that was still bleeding. “Nothing is wrong with you Michael. You’re just… confused.” The vampire’s mind was racing, thinking about what Burnie had said. That he may be able to handle the symptoms, the urges, but Michael wouldn’t be able to. He wanted to ignore it, to believe it wasn’t true. But it looked like it was. And it seemed that even in this case, humans were so much weaker than vampires. “I should go get Joel to look at this.”

“No! Don’t get Joel, I don’t want anyone else to know!” Michael pleaded, trying to pull his arm away. When it didn’t work, he whimpered again, tears in his eyes. “Please, if Burnie finds out…”

“He won’t do anything.” Ryan murmured, watching the cut. It didn’t look like it wanted to stop any time soon. He gulped, knowing the idea he had was a very bad one. “There might be something I can do… But you might not like it.”

“What?” Michael asked, willing to try anything that didn’t involve telling others.

“Vampire saliva has two components, one that helps the wound bleed, so we can eat, and one that encourages healing.” Ryan murmured, meeting the human’s eyes. He saw fear and uncertainty there. “Michael, the more you bleed the stronger the smell will be. I don’t want you to get hurt because some vampire couldn’t control themselves.”

Michael gulped, his eyes searching Ryan’s. “I trust you.” he whispered. “I trust you to handle this. Just, don’t tell anyone, please.”

Ryan looked unsure for a moment before he nodded, his eyes turning bright red. He gently brought Michael’s wrist to his lips, his eyes glancing over at the boy one more time, looking for any hint of wanting to stop. He took in a deep breath, smelling the sweet blood. His fangs began to tingle, though he knew they wouldn’t be used. His tongue came out and he gently licked along the wound. Both men sucked in air and shuddered, Michael wincing at the initial sting before letting out the smallest of moans that did not escape Ryan’s ears.

The vampire growled softly and licked up more of the blood, earning a whimper from Michael, who squirmed a bit where he stood. “God, Ryan…” the groaned in a shaky breath.

Ryan started to move the wrist away from his mouth, his head swimming from the bloodlust. It was taking everything out of him to focus on the task at hand and not devour the boy. As he moved away, he heard Michael whine in annoyance. His red eyes flicked up to the younger’s face and he cocked an eyebrow in confusion. He wasn’t surprised that the lad wasn’t screaming in pain, vampire saliva had a pain relieving agent of sorts in it. He didn’t expect the reaction he was receiving from Michael, however.

“Don’t stop.” Michael whimpered, his other hand moving around to the back of the vampire’s head, leading him back to his wrist. Ryan shuddered, feeling the last of his self control slip away. He growled and took the wrist in his mouth, feeling the blood trickle onto his tongue. Michael’s head tipped back and he moaned softly. Ryan vaguely heard Michael groan out something along the lines of “Fuck, yes Ryan.”

All too soon the blood stopped, the healing agent kicking in. Michael whimpered and squirmed against Ryan, and now the elder could feel the human grind against his thigh. His head was surrounded in a haze, and he hadn’t noticed he basically had the lad pinned against the sink.

He kissed up Michael’s arm, being particularly gentle along the cuts. He reached his neck and let a low rumble slip from his throat, hesitating as his fangs tingled. His moment of clarity and self control shattered when he felt Michael press his head closer, moaning out a “Please.”

Michael gasped as he felt two sharp pricks of pain in his neck, just above the crook of his shoulder. Pleasure flooded into his system more than when Ryan had sucked on his wrist, and he whimpered, reduced to a grinding puddle of need against the vampire. He heard Ryan purr in content, one of his hands running down the younger’s chest to then cup the front of his pants. Michael let his head fall back more as he moaned loudly, Ryan’s other hand covering his mouth to muffle the noise.

Michael whimpered and moved his hips against Ryan’s hand, his eyes closed as he dug his hands into the vampire’s hair, encouraging him. One hand brushed around and slipped under the gent’s shirt, running over the muscles there.

Ryan slipped his hand back up, struggling a bit before he pulled the lad’s pants down a bit, his dick springing free. Ryan loved that the human was putty in his hands. He had a thousand years of experience with pleasing others, and decided to use them all on Michael. It only took a couple more minutes before Michael was overwhelmed by the sensations, his head a little light from the blood loss. The lad had reach down with his own hand, slipping Ryan’s own cock free of his and tugging at it, though his mind was so hazy he couldn’t fully focus on the task at hand. He soon was pushed over the edge, having the best orgasm of his life, whimpering out Ryan’s name as his legs gave in. The vampire groaned and curled his hand around Michael’s as he thrust into the lad’s hand. He heard a small gasp as the human felt his knot press against his palm, and he smirked against his neck.

Ryan finally felt his orgasm hit him, grunting as he bit down harder on Michael, earning a long moan from the lad who jerked under the vampire a bit. As his knot calmed down, Ryan purred more, taking his mouth from his neck and kissing it before holding Michael up. He watched the lad, humming happily with his eyes closed as he leaned against the vampire’s chest.

He reached over and grabbed some paper towels, cleaning up Michael’s mess before tugging his pants back on. He watched the lad slowly regain his senses, and he leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his lips. Michael took in a shaky breath and opened his eyes. “What the fuck was that?” he asked, his voice shaky and breaking. “I didn’t know a vampire’s bite feels that great.”

Ryan chuckled and nuzzled into his neck again, placing another kiss over the nearly healed bite mark. “They aren’t supposed to.” he purred against his skin. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Me either.” Michael wrapped his arms around Ryan’s neck and curled up against him.

“Come on, we need to get back to the others before they start wondering what happened.” Ryan murmured, helping the lad to his feet. He clicked his tongue when he saw the bite mark was visible against the lad’s pale skin. He pulled up the sweatshirt a bit by the collar, hoping to hide it. When he decided it was good enough, both men left.

* * *

 

They rejoined the Let’s Play, and Ryan kept a close eye on Michael the entire time. The lad was clearly tired, yawning every so often, but he was laughing along with the others and making his usual jokes, pretending to be mad at Gavin’s latest stupid decisions. At one point, Geoff had walked over to Michael to help him with something, leaning a little too close for the older gent’s comfort. Ryan felt a growl escape his lips, and saw Geoff tense up, shooting a look of confusion at him. Ryan pretended it was something on his screen that had caused his reaction.

Michael looked over at Ryan when he heard the growl, and he blushed bright red, smiling a little. Geoff saw this, and narrowed his eyes. He saw the faintest hint of a mark on the human’s neck, and felt himself grow cold. Anger, no rage, radiated off of him in pulses. Gavin sensed this first, and ducked his head, whining nervously and looking at his Alpha. Jack and Jeremy both started to get up from their seats, but it was a second too late. Geoff had dragged Michael up to his feet, shoving down the collar of his sweatshirt. He pointed at the two fang marks, baring his teeth at Ryan. “What the fuck is this, Haywood?” he snarled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Self Harm


	4. Into The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burnie remembers the events of the past thousand years, and realizes how big of a mistake he made in raising Ryan.
> 
> Ryan learns of the only way to bring Michael back out of his dark, spiraling depression.

Burnie and Joel had followed the sounds of screaming all the way to the Achievement Hunter office. There, they found the two Alphas circling each other, snarling and growling. Gavin was in a corner holding Michael back, the human screaming at Ryan to stop. The Omega vampire would occasionally let out a whimper to his Alpha. Jack and Jeremy were trying to talk the two down. “What’s going on in here?!” Burnie demanded, causing both Beta’s to back down, and both Alpha’s to stop circling.

“Ryan fucking bit Michael!” Geoff snarled, not taking his eyes off of the pureblood.

Burnie bristled, taking a step forward and causing both Alphas to step away from each other. The elder pureblood turned to Ryan, glaring at him. “Is this true?”

Ryan tensed and desperately tried to explain. “You don’t know the full stor-”

“Is. It. True.” Burnie grit out, grinding his teeth together. Ryan whimpered a bit, baring his neck to the head Alpha of the coven. 

“Yes.” He whimpered. In the next second, Burnie had Ryan slammed up against the wall, hand around his neck. “B-burnie!” Ryan gasped, gripping his hand in panic. “Burnie, please just hear me out!”

“I warned you! I told you not to lose control! I told you this would happen! But you didn’t listen.” Burnie’s grip tightened and Ryan gasped for air. 

“Burnie, no!” Michael yelled as he slipped from Gavin’s grasp and ran over, slipping between Burnie and Ryan, hugging the other Achievement Hunter close with one arm, the other hand gripping over Burnies in a futile attempt to make him let go. “Burnie please he- I asked him to so don’t hurt him!”

Burnie looked down at the human in confusion, his grip lessening on Ryan’s throat, causing the man to take a heavy inhale of air. Michael’s hand dug into Burnie’s more, pulling as hard as the little human could. In the panic, Michael’s sleeves had fallen down, and the head Alpha could see the cuts. His eyes widened, memories from thousands of years ago flashing before his eyes, of a man who bore similar marks for a similar reason. He held a sad look on his face for a moment before he let go of Ryan’s throat, moving his hands to quickly help cover the marks. He looked around, making sure no one else had seen, before ordering all but him, Michael and Ryan to leave. Geoff was the most hesitant, but he was dragged out by a stronger Joel, who guarded the door to keep the Alpha from barging back in.

Burnie took a few deep breaths, calming himself. He heard a sniffle, and turned to the source. Michael had his hood up, almost as if he was hiding. “I’m sorry. This is my fault, Burnie. I- Ryan had seen the… the cuts and he wanted to get Joel instead b-but I didn’t want anyone else to know. So he told me he could help make the bleeding stop and he did. I’m sorry Burnie, just please don’t hurt Ryan when it’s all my fault!” the lad’s face was bright red as he fought a mixture of rage, sadness and embarrassment. The lad hiccupped before, in a flash, he grabbed his keys from his desk and bolted out the door, not stopping when anyone yelled after him.

Burnie turned back to Ryan, his eyes going to the bruise forming on the other vampire’s neck. He sighed and met the others eyes. “I had hoped you’d never find your bondmate, Ryan. I had hoped you’d never have to feel the pain I had felt.” he took in a shaky breath, closing his eyes. “Ryan, do you know exactly what a bondmate is to a pureblood?”

Ryan frowned and furrowed his brows in confusion. “I don’t understand. I thought the only difference was that it had to be a human, not like how Geoff and Gavin are bondmates.”

Ryan opened his eyes and shook his head. “No. It’s more than that. It’s not like when you place a bond on your mate. I’m sorry, I never explained this to you, I never wanted you to know. I wanted you to stay the little boy I found, alone in the woods, so innocent. I didn’t want you to know the pain I suffered, the pain your parents suffered. I should have told you sooner. I had so many chances over the years. But, all that time, I just wanted to protect you from the pain...”

* * *

 

_ One Thousand Years Ago _

Burnie growled under his breath as he rode on horseback to the small town, the castle on the hillside not far away lit up by fire. He had seen the same scene all over Europe, at all of the great Vampire Houses. He had hoped Count Dracula would have been able to hold off the attackers longer, until he could get there.

He jumped off the horse as he arrived at the castle, running in through the servants entrance. As usual, the humans had left once the fire had started, trapping the vampires inside. As he ran down the halls, he passed countless of his kind, already dead. He could hear sobbing from a chamber up ahead. When he opened it, he was greeted with a horrid sight.

The room was clearly a nursery, with a cradle in a corner, and a small bed beside it. The fire had not yet reached this room, but the couple who were sat on the floor against the wall didn’t look like they’d be able to leave in time. There lay Count Dracula, stake in his chest, gasping for air. His wife held him close, sobbing. She looked beaten and bloodied, and her legs looked broken beyond her simple human healing abilities.

Burnie gasped and ran forward, kneeling down beside them. “My lord! Oh, I’m so sorry. I am too late.” he sobbed softly, hand touching his chest beside the stake.

Dracula opened his eyes a bit, their bright blue ones looking up at the younger pureblood. “Prince Burns, I am so relieved to see you still among the living. I had feared that your home had already been destroyed.” he saw the sadness intensify in the vampire’s eyes. “Oh, perhaps it has been, and you were able to escape.”

Burnie nodded, tears coming to his eyes. He opened his mouth, but the countess silenced him with a finger to his lips. “Please, my friend. Time grows short for us, and we won’t be with you much longer. But our child, my Prince, we told him to run into the woods and wait for us there. You must find him before the hounds do. Find him, and tell him that his mother is so sorry, that she couldn’t be with him anymore, that his parents and his younger sister will be waiting for him, for the day in the distant future when he joins us.” her voice broke as her hand fell from Burnie’s cheek to rest on her swollen stomach. Burnie had wondered why there was a crib when their child was four years old, but now he knew, and it broke his heart even more.

“Please, my old friend.” Dracula sounded faint and far away. “Find my son, save him. Do not let the fate that has befallen the other purebloods take him and you as well.”

Burnie gulped and nodded, getting up and running out of the room. He hesitated a moment, looking back. Dracula had brought his wife’s face down to his, and they were gazing into each other’s eyes. “My love, my bondmate, at least we die together, instead of you taking my heart with you in your old age. I would rather die a thousand times than lose you.” Unable to watch any more, Burnie vanished from the castle.

He searched the woods for hours, calling out for the boy. He ran into a few human search parties, likely from the same group that had murdered his friends. Unable to hold in his rage, he had torn them apart, leaving little left recognizable. 

As time stretched on, he grew desperate, sensing dawn approaching. If the boy was found, he would be too weak in the sunlight to fight them off. Hell, if  _ he  _ were found, Burnie wasn’t sure he’d live through an attack during the day. Just when he thought he was again too late, he heard a sniffle. He pushed past the leaves of a nearby bush, and felt his heart soar for a moment.

Bright blue eyes looked up at him in fear. The child bared his little fangs at him, letting out a small hiss. He was too young to enter the feral mode that would elongate his fangs and turn his eyes red. Burnie’s own eyes softened. He closed them for a moment, before opening them and revealing his own bright red eyes. “It’s okay.” he cooed softly. “I’m like you, and I’m a friend. I’m here to take you somewhere safe.” as he picked him up, the boy’s arms curled around his neck. He buried his face in Burnie’s shoulder and sniffled more. “I promise to never let anything hurt you again, Ryan.”

For years, Burnie took Ryan with him as he traveled Europe, never staying at the same place more than one night. It was easier when the boy was younger, not yet old enough to drink blood. But one day when the child was a young teenager, Burnie awoke to Ryan screaming in pain. He found the boy crumpled on the floor, clutching his mouth, his eyes watering. The once bright blue eyes were red for the first time. Burnie had to find double the blood supply from that day on, and had to be more careful. Young vampires were prone to over-drinking and accidently killing their prey.

Joel found Burnie when Ryan was in his early twenties. He had been the elder’s closest friend when they were both children, living in European ruled Rome, and when some Roman soldiers had nearly killed him, Burnie had managed to turn him into a vampire, his only successful change in a thousand years. Joel had spent the past near two decades searching the ancient African and Asian covens, but with many of them, like with the great European Houses, the pureblood vampires were dead. 

As the generations passed, fewer and fewer people remembered the gruesome tales of vampires, the threat, once a reality, not seemed nothing more than a fantasy. When the Black Plague hit, the three vampires nearly died of starvation, unable to feed on the sick, and afraid to feed on the seemingly healthy. Ryan had become desperate at one point, and fed from a dying man. He became so ill that for weeks he couldn’t walk.

By the 1500’s, so few vampires were left that the trio hadn’t seen any for hundreds of years. In the 1620’s they traveled the the New World, where they were surprised to find that vampires lived peacefully among some of the natives of the land, though no purebloods could be found. Burnie determined that some from down south had been turned by a Spanish explorer long ago, and had turned more since then. 

They settled in Boston, and when war broke out, they would search the aftermath of the battles, and get small meals from the dying soldiers. That was when they found Gavin, and Joel felt a need to change him into a vampire, saying he could sense the boy’s will to live. Their trio had turned into a quartet, and they stayed in New England for half a century. Joel had picked up a medical practice, taking advantage of the vampire’s unique healing powers to help those he could, while they were unconscious of course. They found it hard, having an Omega with the group of previously all Alphas, but they managed. When Gavin went into his heats, he would lock himself away in a cabin for the week, dealing with it on his own. Eventually, Gavin decided to return to England, and he bit the three men goodbye, promising to write.

When war broke out between the North and the South, Ryan left, against Burnie’s wishes, to fight for the Union. Burnie and Joel tried to follow, but they were sent to a different place than the younger pureblood. When the war was over, Ryan returned to Boston, hoping to find Burnie and Joel. When he had given up and prepared to leave, the elder two returned. They swore to never separate again, and Ryan suggested that they start a coven, with Burnie at the head. He said he had met vampires during the war in need of direction.

It took a while to convince Burnie. Their first outside member was a vampire named Geoff, who found them when looking for blood-laced rum. After World War II, they settled down in Texas, with a coven of nearly ten strong. Burnie was surprised the day he received a letter from Gavin, the first contact in nearly a hundred years. The lad wanted to come back to America. He replied, telling Gavin where they were. A few months later, they had a happy british vampire with them again. He and Geoff had bonded nearly instantly, and suddenly heats weren’t as much of a problem for the other three Alphas. They would simply avoid half of their large house for the week, as it reeked of needy Omega and rutting Alpha.

Joel eventually pursued his MD, and joined the local hospital as a doctor. Everyone was surprised when he came home after one shift with a new Beta to join their ranks. They met Matt in the 90’s, and the man became the first human they had ever trusted with their secrets. A decade later, they formed Rooster Teeth, and the rest was history.

* * *

 

“I had a thousand years to warn you.” Burnie whispered softly, lost in his memories. “I never told you how I lost my bondmate.”

Ryan frowned and shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”

“It was long before you were born. I had two of the closest friends a young man could ask for, Joel and Abraham. This was back in the times when humans and vampires lived together. Joel and Abraham’s families were servants of my father. Contrary to what the surrounding villages believed, we never saw them as food. Well, Abraham and I grew closer than expected, and I became nervous of getting that close to a mortal, so I started avoiding him. After a while, I noticed he became more distant after a while. Then he started hurting himself. When I told my father, he told me what that meant. When a pureblood finds a bondmate, they need to stay close, or both will suffer. The human first, as they are a weaker species, but eventually the vampire as well. The only way to fix this was to mark the human mate. So I did, but another servant saw us as I was doing so. All they saw was a vampire biting a human. In fear, they ran to the village. The local Roman soldiers took the chance to play ‘hero’ and came to the castle, demanding my head. Joel and Abraham drew their swords. They both fought so bravely.” Burnie took a second to control himself, feeling tears come to his eyes. “They had actually managed to drive the soldiers back to the village, but they both suffered fatal wounds, though we only knew that Joel was injured badly at first. He was bleeding out so fast, on instinct I bit him, and injected my venom into his veins. Joel looked like he was in so much pain. And then he became still, and I thought he had died. When he took his first breath as a vampire, I wept with joy. That was when I noticed Abraham had become quiet. When I looked at him, he was pale, holding his side. He coughed up blood. Internal bleeding. I tried to turn him as I had Joel, but when he stilled, it felt different. It felt like my heart was ripped from my chest.”

Ryan sucked in some air, his hand over his mouth. “Burnie, why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Burnie shook his head. “I wanted to hide you from any pain. The look in your eyes the night I told you about your family, I never wanted to see that look again. But I saw it today, in Michael’s eyes when he saw you in pain. There’s no doubting it, he’s your bondmate, Ryan.”

“So I have to mark him?” Ryan asked, chewing his lower lip in a worried fashion.

Burnie nodded. “And marking is not like biting. You inject the smallest bit of your venom into his blood. It’s tricky for purebloods, because you are bonding with a human, and you don’t want to give them so much they start to turn. But if you want to protect Michael, you need to bond with him.”

Ryan looked away from the older pureblood. “I’m scared, Burnie. Humans, they only live about 80 years. I’ve lived for over 12 of those lifespans. He’ll die someday, and I’ve heard stories of vampires killing themselves after their human bondmate dies.”

Burnie placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll cross that bridge when it comes. But Ryan, those vampires didn’t really kill themselves. They died the day their bondmate died.”

Ryan gave Burnie a sad look, knowing the man was speaking from experience. He had lived the past 2000 years feeling a part of him was gone. “I… I need to find Michael.”


	5. Something's Up with Ryan (Ryan/Michael II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The office becomes concerned when Ryan's body starts rejecting blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Smut.

Michael didn’t show up to work for the rest of that week, too humiliated by what had happened to show his face. He ignored his co-workers calls and texts, only responding when they threatened to barge into his apartment to make sure he was alive. 

Gavin stopped by after work on Friday, insisting Geoff wait in the car. He was met at the door by the face of a paler-than-usual Michael. The human insisted he was fine, just a little stomach flu. The British vampire finally agreed to leave him alone when Michael insisted that he needed to go sleep of the bug. 

On Monday, Michael called in sick. According to Geoff, he sounded like death. The lad still assured the vampires that he was fine, saying that he just didn’t want to vomit in front of the office, which would cause Gavin to vomit as well. Everyone agreed that this was probably for the best.

Then something happened to Ryan.

It was just after lunch, and Ryan was sitting at his desk editing some footage. He jumped nearly a foot out of his chair when he heard a whimper. He turned around, narrowing his eyes as he tried to find the source of the whimper. He sighed and slipped his headphones back on when he couldn’t find it, going back to his work. Every so often he would hear the whimper again, louder each time. He was starting to get a headache, and was gritting his teeth in annoyance. 

He was talking with Jack in the break room, sipping on some synthetic blood, when he felt a stab of pain in his stomach, making him double over and fall to his knees as he yelped in pain. He felt his stomach do a flip before it emptied itself onto the floor, synthetic blood pooling before him. Jack’s worrying Beta scent surrounded him, trying to comfort him. The pureblood’s vision was hazy, his ears ringing with the incessant sound of whimpering. His stomach heaved again before he felt firm hands on his shoulders, Alpha scent surrounding him. He was lifted from the floor and helped into a nearby chair.

Someone pushed a pack of synthetic blood into his shaking hands. He blinked a few times, his vision focusing on the man in front of him. Geoff wore a concerned look on his face, and Ryan could slowly hear what he was saying. “...re looking really pale there, buddy. We need to get some blood into you. Here, this is some O-neg, it’ll be easier on the stomach.” Keeping a hand on the other Alpha’s shoulder, Geoff turned to Jack and told him to find Joel.

In what seemed like a second later, Joel was in Geoff’s place, urging Ryan to drink the synthetic blood. The pureblood did, but the second the blood hit his stomach he shuddered and gagged, throwing it back up as quickly as he had swallowed it. “Shit.” he heard Joel mutter. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

“What’s going on, Joel, why can’t Ryan keep blood down?” Geoff growled, worry evident in his voice. He was looking over at them, though his body was angled towards Burnie. Ryan found himself wondering just when his pseudo father had shown up, though he was having a hard time thinking through the fog in his brain. He could sense the tension coming off of the older vampire.

“He’s rejecting the synthetic blood.” Joel said with a frown, standing up and turning to the other two. “We should get him a bag of donor blood from the local blood bank, and soon.”

Geoff scowled over at him and shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense, Joel. Why would he reject synthetic blood now when he’s been drinking it for decades?”

“He needs his bondmates blood.” came Burnie’s softer voice, shaking a bit. All eyes in the room turned to him. “We need to get him to Michael.”

The younger Alpha bristled. “Like hell we’re taking a blood-starved vampire to Michael!” Geoff snarled, baring his fangs. “The poor kid is already sick, he needs all of his blood to get better.”

Burnie couldn’t help the humorless snort that escaped him, crossing his arms. “Michael is sick for the same reason that Ryan is rejecting the blood.” he told the tattooed man.

“So Ryan’s going to need to feed from Michael from now on?” Jack asked, tilting his head on confusion. “That’ll end up killing them both. Michael will die from blood loss, and Ryan will die from starvation after that. None of this makes sense Burnie.”

The head Alpha groaned in frustration, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. After a moment, he sighed and looked back at them. “Ryan is a pureblood that has found and bitten his bondmate.” he started, talking slowly to make sure they understood. “However, he hasn’t marked Michael yet. So, both his and his human’s bodies are responding negatively to this. In order to get them both better, and to keep them from  _ dying _ , Ryan needs to mark Michael, and the sooner the better.”

There was silence for a minute, before Ryan’s weak voice broke it. “Michael’s in pain. I’ve been hearing him whimpering all day. I need to help him.” he got to his feet, his head clear again after resting for a moment. He swayed a bit in his weakness, catching himself before he fell.

Geoff sighed before reaching his hand into his pocket, fishing out his keys. “Come on, Ryan. I’ll drive you to Michael’s apartment.”

* * *

 

Michael groaned from his spot on the couch when he heard the doorbell ring. He glanced over at his phone, seeing a new text from Ryan, informing him that he was coming over to see him, that it was really important. He figured that the person at the door must be him. He reached out and grabbed his phone, unlocking him and sending the vampire a message.  _ It’s unlocked. Come in. _

A second later he heard the door open. He glanced over the back of the couch, seeing a very sick looking Ryan. The human shuffled over and patted the spot on the couch next to him. The vampire sat down and sighed, leaning his head back and shuddering. “Why do you look like death?” Michael asked, his voice heavy from sleep at sickness. 

Not seeing any point in dancing around the subject, the vampire decided to get straight to the point. “Same reason you do. Burnie seems to think we’re bondmates, and the only way to feel better is to mark you.” Ryan winced, a shudder passing through his body as his stomach growled loudly and he groand in pain. “You’ll feel better almost instantly, but turns out that until we bond, my body will continue to reject any blood that isn’t yours. So, I’m running on empty.”

Michael frowned and let out a couple pathetic coughs, clutching the blanket covering him closer. “I’ve been hearing you whining all day in my head.” he grumbled. “Can’t sleep well with it.”

Ryan chuckled and looked at him. “Can’t be as pathetic sounding as your little whimpers in my head.” he purred, reaching his hand out and running it through the young human’s hair. “Are you okay with this?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Michael gave him a big smile, despite the dark circles under his eyes and the paleness of his complexion that indicated how ill he really was. “Well, if Burnie’s right, I won’t feel miserable anymore. Besides…” the lad paused, looking away as his face lit up bright red in a blush “...if it’s anything like the last time you bit me, it won’t exactly be… unpleasant.”

There was silence, and Michael grew worried. He gasped when he looked over, Ryan’s face a mere inch from his. The vampire’s eyes were bright red, staring at him through heavy lids. He had a soft smile on his face before he leaned forward, a hand tilting the human’s chin up so he could capture his mouth.

The lad sucked in a breath of air in shock, realizing this was the first time the two had kissed. He closed his eyes when he felt Ryan’s tongue flick across his lips, opening willingly to him. The vampire moved his mouth away after a minute, leaving the human to whine in disappointment. He chuckled before kissing and nibbling his neck, causing Michael to tilt his head back as far as he could, suddenly feeling like he  _ needed  _ the bite. He groaned when Ryan hesitated, a hand coming up and tangling in the elder’s hair. “Please, Ryan. Fuck, just bite me already!”

Ryan growled softly before digging his fangs into the redhead. Michael gasped, tensing up a moment in pain, before his eyes rolled back and he moaned. Ryan purred happily, taking the tiniest bit of Michael’s blood before preparing to mark him.

_ “You don’t want to give them too much that they start to turn.” _ Burnie’s warning echoed in his mind. Ryan grew nervous, he hadn’t used his venom in so long. Yet, something in the back of his head calmed him, telling him it was ok. He let his instincts take over, and for once he didn’t feel like a monster for doing so.

Michael felt a slight burning sensation at first as the venom entered his bloodstream. He whimpered, one hand gripping Ryan’s hair while the other twisted in the front of his shirt. After the pain, however, came the unbelievable pleasure. Michael moaned loudly, his body jerking to life and grinding against the couch in desperation. Ryan purred happily, lifting his mouth away and leaning back so he could watch the human squirm.

Michael whined and leaned into Ryan, humping against his hip. “R-ryan…” he moaned. Ryan lifted his chin to meet the younger’s gaze, and hummed in approval. The human’s pupils were shot, filled with lust. His stomach growled again, and his eyes seemed to start to glow, and behind the vampire’s own lust, Michael could see how hungry Ryan was. The man still needed his blood, and at that moment, that sounded like the most amazing idea to the human.

“Feed from me, Ryan.” Michael begged, his grinding becoming more insistent. “I trust you. You’ll know when to stop. Just feed from me, I need to feel it, I need to feel you.”

The vampire was worried for a moment, but when he looked at Michael, something told him that he would know when to stop, and that he’d be able to. He smiled, patting his lap. Michael crawled over so he straddled the gent, squirming in his lap as he slipped his hands under the vampire’s shirt. He tilted his head to one side, revealing the already bleeding bite. Ryan pressed his lips against the wound again, sucking deeply and groaning as the blood slipped down his throat. One of his hands slipped down to cup Michael’s ass, while the other swiftly undid the button of the lad’s jeans. Michael’s cock slipped free, and the hand on his ass slipped under his clothes, a finger brushed over the rim of his hole, making him shudder. 

As the vampire continued to slowly drink, savouring every drop of blood, he gently pressed a finger into the lad. Michael whimpered and tensed in discomfort, causing Ryan to coo softly, forgetting that the human wasn’t an omega who needed an Alpha’s comfort, or could understand it for that matter. He started nibbled gently at the lad’s neck, causing him to squirm and moan again, relaxing against the intruding finger. Ryan continued to feed, and the finger began to pump in Michael, before a second was slowly added. Ryan stretched him slowly, and any pain Michael would have felt was blotted out by the sensations the vampire’s bite was giving him. A third finger was added, and suddenly they brushed against his prostate. Michael gasped and whined loudly, wriggling desperately against the fingers as his cock twitched. He ground against the hand, and nearly cried when the fingers were removed.

Ryan moved his hands, pulling down Michael’s pants and boxers before undoing and removing his own, leaning off the couch as he did, deliberately rubbing his hard member against the lad’s hole. As Michael squirmed and groaned, Ryan detached his mouth for a second, quickly pulling of their shirts before looking at the lad. “Look at you.” he purred, narrowing his eyes and smirking, tilting his head up and to one side a bit. Michael watched, entranced, as Ryan’s tongue slid over his fangs, licking off the blood, causing the human to shudder. He ran a hand through the redhead’s hair, enjoying the way the lad leaned into the touch. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were an Omega in heat, begging for my knot.”

Michael tried to growl at the vampire, but one shift of the elder’s hips had him reduced to a puddle of moaning again. The venom pulsing through his blood was driving him crazy, and he wanted- no, needed- more. “Ryan, you’re such a fucking tease!” he tried to snarl, but it came out as more of a whine. His hand reached out to the table next to the couch, but he couldn’t quite reach. The gent frowned and raised an eyebrow, before reaching behind him and opening the drawer in the table, pulling out a bottle of lube, much to his surprise. He gave Michael a look, and the fiery lad just blushed and avoided eye contact.

The vampire chuckled and moved his hand from the lad’s head down to rest on the human’s hips. “My, my, what do we have here?” Ryan wasn’t oblivious to the way his purrs affected Michael, loving the way the human shuddered each time he spoke. He popped open the bottle of lube, noticing it was unused. “When were you planning on using this, my naughty little mate?” He squirted some on his hand before rubbing it over his dick, using the last bit to insert his fingers into the lad again, making the human jump in surprise before humming happily. Yet again, the fingers left all too soon, and Michael whined.

He wasn’t empty for long though, because he soon felt something bigger poking at his hole. He gasped when it easily slipped in, Ryan slowly sliding the lad onto his cock. Just as it started to burn and hurt a little too much, the vampire seemed to sense this and leaned forward, taking the human’s neck again and feeding more, turning the lad’s mind into mush once more.

Once he bottomed out, Ryan waited for Michael to set the pace, not wanting to push the other too far too fast. Once he had adjusted, Michael leaned over Ryan and started rocking his hips, moaning out the vampire’s name amongst a string of curses. The gent placed a hand on the back of his neck, holding his source of blood in place as the lad picked up his speed.

Michael could only keep the faster pace up for about a minute, however. His movement had caused him to realize how dizzy he had become, and he now felt very lightheaded. Not that he minded, it felt similar to being buzzed from alcohol. Ryan sensed his faltering, however, and knew the reason. He took one last gulp of blood from the bite before moving his mouth away, licking across the two puncture holes, causing them to stop bleeding. He then glanced around, seeing an open door and a bed behind it. He gave the small human a peck on the tip of his nose before lifting him off of his dick, standing up and carrying him to the bedroom, much to the lad’s complaint and insistence that he could walk on his own. He laid the younger down on the bed on his front before climbing up behind him and kissing up his back.

Ryan nuzzled Michael’s cheek until the lad tilted his head and was drawn into a kiss. His head was still swimming from the blood loss, but that didn’t stop the human from lifting his hips up and grinding back against the vampire above him. Ryan chuckled, muttering about how impatient his mate was, before pressing back inside him, not taking long to resume the pace they had left off at on the couch. He angled his thrusts just right, hitting Michael in his sweet spot each time, knowing he was driving the lad closer to the edge.

As he felt his own orgasm coming, Ryan reached around and began stroking Michael’s cock, only needing a few seconds before he felt the lad’s entire body tense up under him as he came into his hand and onto the bed below them. With as tight as Michael was, Ryan growled loudly before reaching down instinctively and biting his lover’s shoulder hard, sinking his fangs in as his knot inflated within the human.

Michael gasped and saw stars in his vision, the sting on the knot in him disappearing as soon as the fangs connected with his skin. Ryan released his shoulder, shaking above him as he caught his breath. He rolled them both over carefully so they lay side by side, Michael’s back pressed up against the vampire’s as they waited for the knot to deflate. Michael was practically humming in the afterglow, loving how full he felt. Ryan finally slid out after a minute, peppering the lad with kisses until he heard the human’s heartbeat and breathing slow to a steady beat, indicating he was asleep. He smiled and buried his nose in those fiery red curls, inhaling the faint cinnamon scent that now sang “mate” in his head. He too soon found sleep, listening to the soft breaths of the lad curled up against him.


	6. Ancient Foes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not everyone is excited about the mingling of humans and vampires at Rooster Teeth.

Michael and Ryan walked into work the next day hand in hand. Gavin was on his boy in a second, hugging him and blabbering about how he was so worried. When Michael insisted he felt better than fine now, the two lads walked over to their desks, leaving Ryan to head to the kitchen and get some synthetic blood.

“I want all the details, boy!” Gavin chirped, hooking the young human’s neck with his arm. “I can smell Rye-bread all over you!” Michael blushed deeply, ducking his head out from the Omega’s grip and backing over to his desk with a sheepish grin.

Geoff snickered behind him, pulling down the collar of his shirt to inspect the two bite marks. “Oh, Michael, Michael, Michael.” he cooed tauntingly, ruffling the ginger’s hair. “You let him  _ knot  _ you, didn’t you?”

Michael became an even deeper shade of red, letting out a small eep. “Th-that’s none of your business!” he snapped, trying to puff out his chest and look intimidating.

“A human letting a vampire knot him? Kinky.” came a new voice from the doorway. All three men turned to look at the newcomer, standing in the doorway, cleaning his glasses. Gavin practically started vibrating in excitement.

“X-Ray!” he squealed, leaping over to hug the new man, who just sidestepped out of the way.

Ray laughed, helping the brit up. “Vav, you knew I was coming today, we need to run lines, you dope!” he looked back at Michael, sizing him up. “So, you’re the one everyone won’t stop talking about. All good things, don’t worry. Name’s Ray, nice to meet ya.” he held out his hand.

Michael took it, shaking. “Michael, but I guess you already knew that. Nice to meet you too. Sorry you had to hear all that.” he rubbed a hand behind his head in embarrassment.

Ray chuckled and crossed his arms. “I’ve heard worse. Word of advice, though. Getting knotted by an Alpha is way better when you’re also a vampire, instead of a human. Learn from my experience.” he winked and smirked, his small fangs glinting. Behind them, Geoff was howling with laughter at how uncomfortable Michael looked.

Joel suddenly appeared in the doorway. The Alpha let out a small growl, pouncing on the puerto rican and burying his nose in his neck. “What, no ‘hi’ for your Alpha?” he tried to sound angry, though it failed horribly. “Cruel little Omega.”

Ray squirmed out of Joel’s grip and turned around, bopping him on the nose with his hand. “You saw me last night! I haven’t seen Vav in nearly a week! Is that fair?”

Joel just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Screw you and your logic.” he growled playfully. “Come on, they want you both in the recording booth. The sooner with get this started, the sooner we can get this over with. Hopefully after lunch you can join them in some Let’s Plays.”

* * *

 

Michael was glad that everything was returning to normal. Every week, Ray would show up, and the two Omega vampires would record lines for their show. Michael spent almost every night at Ryan’s place, and the nights when he didn’t, the vampire stayed with him. Having admitted to Ryan how much he enjoyed the gent feeding on him, the act became more regular, and the two would sometimes end their evenings with a frisky “midnight snack.” Knowing how exhausted those sessions left his human mate, Ryan tried to limit them to weekends, and maybe once a week. The poor thing needed to recover his blood supply after all.

One night, Michael tempted Ryan to drink by hiding the vampire’s supply of synthetic blood. The pureblood had finally given in, and after knotting the human into the bed had fed until the sides of Michael’s vision had gone black and fuzzy. Not that he minded, he had never felt so high, light, and good. Ryan would have apologized more, were it not for the moaning mess that his feeding had left his mate in.

Ryan hovered around his mate that morning before work started, concerned by his pale complexion. He cursed himself, saying he had taken too much. Michael just brushed his concerns aside, saying that he had egged on a hungry vampire after all. It wasn’t until Gavin and Ray walked in looking for the pureblood that Ryan finally left Michael alone, nuzzling the lad’s neck affectionately before leaving to record lines as the Mad King.

Jack and Jeremy showed up not much later, but Burnie needed them to record a sponsor video, telling Geoff he might be keeping them for a few hours. And so, Michael and Geoff were left alone, editing videos that needed to be uploaded to the site.They did record a couple achievement guides, one for humans, and one for those of the vampire community, something Matt had suggested as an add on to the site as a whole, where vampire sponsors could view footage that didn’t cut out the parts when the men slipped up and mentioned their secret. It even had a couple game shows hosted by Jon, the most popular being a human versus vampire trivia show.

Lunch rolled around, and the two decided to walk to a restaurant down the street. It was a beautiful day outside, and even though the sun was blaring down on the two, Geoff still basked in it’s warmth, purring softly when they first stepped outside. “Don’t care how weak the sun makes me.” He hummed, putting on sunglasses. “Nothing beats it’s warmth.”

Michael chuckled and pulled up his hood, having not put on sunscreen and wanting to prevent a sunburn. “I’m not exactly immune to it, you know. It tries to burn me on a daily basis!” he joked, elbowing the gent. “Just stick to the shadows, I don’t want to explain to Gavin why you have singe marks again.”

Geoff rolled his eyes and snorted, walking on the shady side of the sidewalk. “So, you want to explain to me why you look like you’re missing half your blood volume?” the Alpha asked, giving him a worried look.

Michael smiled sheepishly and hid more under his hood. “I may have pushed Ryan a bit far last night.” he murmured, blushing bright red.

“How hard? Must have been quite something to make Haywood feed that much from you.” Geoff chuckled. “What’d you do, hide the synth blood from him?” he joked.

“Yes.”

Geoff stopped in his tracks and looked at the human’s back. He ran a shocked hand through his hair and shook his head. “Damn, Jones, you are a strange one.” he snickered, walking again.

As they always would when they went out to eat, they took a shortcut through an alley between two buildings. They moved to either side when a person walking in the other direction wanted to pass. 

Geoff stiffened and sniffed, catching  the smell of rogue vampire a little too late. “Run!” he snarled at Michael, before he felt a sharp prick in his neck. His eyes snapped to his side, and he saw a needle being pulled out of his neck. His vision began to go black, and the last thing he saw was the fanged smirk of their attacker.

Michael whirled around to look at his boss and froze, seeing a man standing over him with a syringe in hand. He looked up at Michael with blood red eyes, and smirked, licking his lips. Michael gasped and took a step back, shaking. When the man made a move towards him, he turned and bolted down the alley. He didn’t make it more than a few yards before he was slammed against a nearby wall, hands pinned behind his back. The rogue vampire sank his fangs into his neck, drinking greedily. Michael let out a scream of pain, thrashing under the body holding him in place. Having not fully recovered from the amount Ryan had drank the night before, it wasn’t long before he passed out. He wasn’t sure, however, it if was because of the blood loss, or the pain.

* * *

 

Ryan, Ray and Gavin walked into the office after lunch, finding it empty. Figuring Geoff and Michael had gone out to lunch, they decided to start setting up for the Let’s Play. Jack and Jeremy joined in not long after, bearing lunch for the three others.

Thirty minutes passed, and they wondered where the two men were. They texted their respective mates, asking for ETA’s.

They were downright worried when another thirty minutes passed with no response. Ryan’s heart leapt from his chest when he heard the text tone his phone had set for when Michael messaged him, Gavin’s phone also going off. They both jumped up and grabbed their phones, smiles fading when they read the text.

_ -It’s time the world begins to see humans for what they are- food. _

Ryan felt himself grow numb. His and Gavin’s phones pinged again as another message came through, though he didn’t look right away. Gavin let out a strangled choke, holding his phone in shaky hands.

It was a picture of a passed out Geoff and Michael. Geoff looked pale and sickly, and the vampire’s skin looked burned by the sun in some places. The human’s neck was covered in blood. Ryan’s phone screen cracked at how hard he clutched it in his hands, rage boiling in his body. He took a screenshot of the messages and sent it to Burnie before responding.

_ Where have you taken them? Why are you doing this? _

Down the hall, he could hear Burnie’s scream, “Mother fucker!”

By now, Jack had walked over besides Ryan, reading over his shoulder. A low, uncharacteristic snarl left the Beta’s mouth. Jeremy and Ray had crowded over Gavin, Ray letting out little mewls of reassurance to the other Omega, Jeremy had tensed up, and much like Jack seemed oddly hostile. Betas were known to be protective and aggressive when weaker members of their coven were challenged. Human as he may be, Michael was one of them. And to see their Alpha, to see Geoff, in such a state, had all the men on edge.

_ -Humans and vampires aren’t meant to be mates, pureblood. Or have you forgotten that they were the ones that murdered your kind? Our venom is strong to weed out the weak, so only the perfect survive to serve under your powerful bloodlines. _

_ \--Let them go, we’ll pay you whatever you want! _ Gavin’s message joined in. A glance up saw that the Omega was crumpling to the ground, Ray and Jeremy holding him up.

_ -Ah, the Omega. You’re kind are almost no better than humans, your only purpose is to take an Alpha’s knot, you know. There was a time when Omegas were only found in brothels, you know. I’m sure your ass would fit in well in one. Alphas used to pay well to knot a bitch in heat. _

Ryan snarled, baring his teeth at the phone as if it would intimidate the owner of those cruel words.

_ -By the way, Haywood, you have amazing taste in blood-banks. Little Michael’s is some of the sweetest I’ve ever had. _

Ryan let out a roar, whirling around and punching the nearest wall as hard as he could, leaving a decent hole in it. 

_ When I find you, I will rip you apart! _

_ -I’d like to see you try. But you’ll find that locating me won’t be easy, princey~ _

Ryan was vaguely aware of Burnie entering the room and taking the phone from him. He assumed it was Burnie, at least. Given the fact that he was radiating fury, he doubted anyone else would come near him right now.

They didn’t receive another text from the kidnapper after that. “We have to find them!” Ryan snarled, slamming his fist into the wall again. “How  _ dare  _ he feed from  _ my  _ mate!” he readied another punch, but a small hand stopped him. He blinked and looked down, seeing a sniffling Omega.

“W-we’ll find them, won’t we, Ryan?” Gavin whimpered, snuggling up against the Alpha’s chest. Ryan’s instincts kicked him, telling him to comfort the Omega. He hugged him softly and nodded, tears burning in his eyes.

“We’ll find them, Gav. We’ll find them.” Ryan assured the crumbling Omega. Scenting with each other allowed both vampires to calm down after a few minutes. They heard a noise, and looked up, seeing that Burnie was walking over, having been on the phone for a while.

“Alright, I’ve contacted, and I have some good news, and some bad news.” the Alpha stated, putting the phone in his pocked. “Which do you want first?”

Ryan frowned and looked down at Gavin, who sniffled a bit. “How about the good news. I think we need some of it first.”

Burnie nodded, crossing his arms and addressing everyone in the now very crowded room. He was a little surprised at first to see humans Lindsey, Miles and Jon hovering near the door, but figured they must be really concerned about Michael. “Alright everyone, listen up. The good news is, we know who the asshole that took Geoff and Michael is. He’s a rogue vampire that goes by the name of Alexander King. Some of you older vampires may have heard of him before.” he added, seeing Joel and Ryan visibly tense. “Which means, you know what the bad news is.”

Gavin frowned and looked up at Ryan, who he was now standing next to. “Rye? What’s he talking about?” 

Burnie walked over to the nearest computer and typed in a few things before turning the screen for everyone to see, a picture of a man with bright red eyes. “Alexander is one of the oldest vampires alive, he survived the massacres of the purebloods back in the early 1000’s, but he was around long before that. He’s at least 2,500 years old, and used to help head one of the great Ancient Greek covens. Even when I was a kid, I was told stories of his ruthless treatment of humans, and any who saw humans as equal to vampires.” Burnie paused, meeting as many eyes in the room as he could. “Let’s just say that after the pureblood massacres, he snapped. He’s made it his life’s mission to, in his mind, put humans in their place. And to men like him, the only things humans are, are prey.”

Ryan was shaking. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and Jack’s calm voice broke through the chaos going through his mind. “Why don’t you sit down?” the bearded vampire asked, already pushing him into a seat.

The pureblood let out a strangled whimper, leaning down and covering his face with his hands, shaking his head back and forth. “Michael, oh God, this is all my fault. It’s because I marked him- that monster sees him as a challenge to our kind now. It’s because of me.”

Joel had taken to clearing out the room of everyone but the Achievement Hunters, Ray, Burnie, and Matt. The human CEO had knelt down in front of Ryan, placing a hand on the vampire’s arm. “From my understanding, you didn’t have a choice. If you hadn’t marked Michael, you both would have kept getting sicker.”

“It is my fault!” Ryan growled, gritting his teeth. “If I hadn’t tasted his blood that first time, if I had ignored him-”

“Stop that.” Burnie interrupted with a harsh tone. “You and I both know that that isn’t how pureblood bondmates work, Ryan. It was inevitable that you would mark him. The only one at fault here is that maniac rogue vampire.”

“We’re going to find them, Ryan.” Matt assured him. He then looked at Gavin, who was curled up on the floor against the wall. “We’re going to bring them home.”


	7. Bleeding Dry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff and Michael have been taken by an insane rogue vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long. I've been pretty busy at work, and kind of just sleeping when I'm not at work.

**_Day 1_ **

Geoff awoke to his body hitting the concrete floor. He groaned in pain, hefting himself up into a sitting position, rubbing the back of his head. “What the fuck?” he grumbled, looking around. Then everything came back to him. The rogue vampire who attacked him, being drugged, and Michael…

“Michael!” Geoff gasped, looking around frantically. He saw the human limp on the ground not far away, and quickly crawled over, lifting his head and checking his pulse against the boy’s blood-stained neck. The vampire sighed in relief when he felt the soft beat of the lad’s heart. Michael muttered something under his breath, his eyes squeezing a bit before his face relaxed again, curling up against the gent a bit for warmth. Geoff couldn’t help but smile a bit, brushing back the redhead’s curls.

“Good morning, sunshine.” A purr came from behind the two men. Geoff tensed and turned his head towards the sound. “I was hoping you would wake up sooner rather than later. Now the real fun can begin.” the rogue vampire gave him a fang-filled grin, eyes glinting red in the darkness. He was leaning against the doorframe, tossing a bag in his hand. He threw it over to the two, the contents spilling out of the bag. A couple bottles of water, and a container of food.

The rogue walked over, pulling out a knife from his pocket and flipping it open, the sharp edge catching the light. Quick as a whip, Geoff was ripped from Michael, and pinned roughly against the nearest wall. Geoff gasped for air, losing his breath on impact. He yelped in pain when the knife dug into the side of his upper arm. The rogue vampire hummed happily and twisted the blade around a bit, widening the wound. When he felt his work was done, he released Geoff, and the gent crumbled to the ground, clutching his arm. Blood seeped between his fingers as the cut continued to bleed.

“Don’t worry.” The rogue purred, closing his blade. “It will stop before you bleed out. Have a nice evening.” he chuckled, walking out of the room and closing the heavy metal door with a loud bang. Geoff listened carefully to the footsteps as they faded away in the distance.

Geoff waited as the bleeding slowed to a stop. He frowned down at the wound, cursing that it cut through his tattoo, marring the art. He took the cloth bag that had held the food and wet it with some of the water, washing away his blood before cleaning off Michael’s neck. He saw the harsh bite marks the rogue had left, a stark, violent contrast to the little marks that Ryan’s fangs had left recently in the crook of the lad’s neck, just below. 

As the cold water hit him, the human’s eyes fluttered open. He grumbled in confusion, a tired hand rubbing his eyes. “Geoff? Wha-? Where are we?” Michael muttered, sitting up and holding his head. “Uhg. I’m dizzy.”

Geoff handed him a bottle of water and the container of food. “You need to drink and eat. That mother fucker took a good bite out of you.” the gent growled under his breath. Michael took the water, taking a quick swig of water. He then grabbed the food container, and took the sandwich out, gobbling it down in a few quick bites.

Michael groaned in relief, not realizing how hungry he had been. He frowned and looked in the container again. “Shit, there’s no synthetic blood in here, Geoff. What are you supposed to eat?” the human looked up at his vampire boss, seeing the elder’s complexion pale as his hand came up to the deep cut in his arm. “Geoff?” he asked warily.

Geoff shook his head, before looking over at Michael, a worried expression on his face. “I think he did leave food for me.”

* * *

 

**_Day 2_ **

Michael woke up with Geoff curled protectively around him, a tattooed arm holding him close. At first he had thought it was Ryan, and they were at home in bed, until he realized that he was on the floor, in the concrete cell. The previous day hadn’t been just a bad dream. He sighed and tried to wiggle free.

Geoff’s face scrunched up and he tightened his grip, grumbling under his breath. Michael had to strain to hear what he was saying. “Gavin… Don’t go yet…” the vampire whimpered, nuzzling his nose into the redhead’s hair. Michael frowned sadly, turning around and running his hand through the gent’s hair a bit, trying to comfort him.

“Geoff, it’s Michael. You gotta wake up, man. Gavin isn’t here.” He watched as the vampire’s eyes flickered open, his sleepy gaze hazy and red. Geoff’s stomach gave a small growl of hunger. Michael couldn’t help but notice just how pale and weak his boss already looked after only a day without feeding.

“Good morning, sunshines.” came the familiar voice. Both men jumped to their feet, Geoff standing between the human and the other vampire. The door opened, and in walked the rogue. He held a bottle of water and a container of food, similar to the day before. Dropping them on the floor, he again took out his knife and walked forward slowly. “Geoff, my friend, are you going to make this easy and submit to me, or are you going to make this fun and fight me?” he purred.

Geoff barred his fangs and growled, his body tensing up. “Don’t you dare touch us, you sick psycho!”

The rogue tsked, a sadistic smirk coming to his face. “Bad choice for you, buddy.”

He surged forwards, but this time Geoff was ready. His fist collided with the side of the rogue’s face, making the maniac stagger backwards.

Blood seeped from a newly split lip, and the rogue scowled at the other vampire. “Oh, you should not have made me angry.” his voice took on a newer, lower tone. This wasn’t games for him anymore. Geoff took a nervous step back, an audible gulp leaving his throat.

He jerked backwards in time for the knife to only graze his cheek, blood soaring through the air, leaving stinging pain in its wake. Geoff yelped and pushed Michael away from them both, the human catching himself quickly and huddling in a corner as the two super-strong entities before him fought.

Even though it wasn’t much of a fight after that.

The rogue had Geoff backed into a corner, and he pounced, one arm shoving against the tattooed vampire’s chest, pinning him in place, the other holding the knife to his throat. His hand shook in rage for a moment, before he took some deep breaths, lowering the blade. Geoff relaxed a bit for a moment, relief on his face, before the knife plunged quickly in and out of his side, leaving him to gasp in shock. The rogue stepped away, watching him crumple to the ground before he walked out of the room.

Michael ran over and pressed his hands against Geoff’s side, trying to stop the bleeding. “Shit, this is bad, Geoff. Fuck, fuck, shit fucking shit!” Blood kept oozing between his fingers. “H-how do we stop it?”

Geoff was gasping for his breath, trying to calm down a bit. “B-blood. Need blood t-to heal.” His eyes met the human’s, pleading for help. 

Michael didn’t even hesitate, rolling up his sleeve quickly and holding his forearm to the vampire’s mouth. “Just don’t fucking die on me, Geoff. I need you here. We’re both going to make it out of this.” his voice cracked as he shook with slight fear. The last time a vampire had bitten him hadn’t exactly ended well.

And this bite wasn’t pleasant like Ryan’s. The sharp pain as the fangs pierced his skin sang through his nerves for a minute before numbing to a dull throb. As Geoff fed, Michael reached down with his other hand, pressing it against the wound, feeling the bleeding quickly stop. He watched in awe, lifting the shirt up a bit, as the wound healed quickly before his eyes. Geoff took no more than he thought he needed, releasing the human’s arm and giving the wound a small lick to seal it, before leaning back against the wall. 

“You still look pale.” Michael commented, rolling his sleeve back down. “And I can still hear your stomach. You’re still hungry.”

“I’m not going to feed from you.” Geoff grumbled, closing his blood-red eyes. “Not to sate hunger. What I just did was to keep from dying. But I won’t feed from you for hunger. I’m stronger than that.”

Michael frowned, sitting besides Geoff and curling up against him, hugging his knees to his chest. “The other’s will find us, right?”

He didn’t like the hesitation before the answer he received.

“Right.”

* * *

 

**_Day 3_ **

Three days had passed. Three whole days since Geoff and Michael were taken. Their contact in the police department had finally been able to get the rest of the footage to them that day. Burnie had apparently saved the officer’s life a couple decades back, taking a bullet for him. Since then, he’s been helping to cover up any troubles that came up from the coven. 

That was how Burnie, Joel, Matt, Ryan, Jack, Jeremy, Gavin, and Ray found themselves standing before a conference table that held as many computer monitors as they could fit on it. They had made the calls into their contacts, and were receiving new security tapes every minute from local businesses and buildings. They finally caught a glimpse of the two men on one monitor, walking down the shortcut in the alleyway. They saw Geoff’s body language tense and turn hostile as a person passed between them, and though there was no audio, he shouted something at his companion.

Michael turned, and Ryan gripped the table in front of him. “Run.” he muttered under his breath, as if that would change the past. The human seemed so slow in comparison to the vampire attacking. He had barely managed to turn before he was tackled and pinned. The rogue looked up, his eyes aiming straight at the security camera whose footage they were currently watching, and smirked, baring his fangs before tearing them into Michael’s neck. The human’s face twisted in agony, and he started thrashing in panic beneath the vampire. By the time his body had gone limp, Burnie paused the footage and looked at his pseudo-son.

He had expected rage. He had expected to see the younger fuming, having to be held back from running out there now and blindly trying to find his enemy. At the very least he expected tears. What he didn’t expect was the reaction he was currently getting.

Ryan was emotionless. He wasn’t even staring at the monitors.

He was staring at his phone.

Ryan moved quickly after that, grabbing a keyboard and logging in to his email, opening a blank one he had sent to himself. It held a single link that lead to a livestream. Still silent, he pressed play.

_ Michael was standing in a defensive stance, glaring at whoever was holding the camera. Behind him, on hands and knees, was a pale and shaky Geoff. His eyes were glowing red with hunger, and the elder looked defeated. The camera shook a bit before a man walked in front of it, winking once in shot towards the lense. Alexander. _

_ Michael grit his teeth and took a threatening step forward, making the rogue stop and chuckle. _ Burnie shuddered, there was something dark and twisted in that voice.  _ “You are a tough one, Michael Jones. I’ll give you that.” A swift kick into Michael’s side had the human slamming like a doll into the wall, sinking to the floor with a grunt of pain. “Most humans would be dead by now.”  _

_ The rogue picked something up off the floor, frowning and clicking his tongue in disappointment. “I so graciously offer you food, and you continue to refuse it. How are you supposed to produce more blood if you don’t eat?” _

_ “Go to hell.” Michael grit out, forcing himself to stand. As soon as he was steadied, the vampire slammed his head back into the wall. Michael crumpled to the ground with a groan of pain, his head lolling to one side as he blinked, trying to clear his vision. “You son of a bitch.” _

_ “Language, blood-bag.” Alexander scolded. “Your horrid language will give your blood a bad taste.” _

_ Michael let out a cold chuckle, glaring up at the vampire. “Good.” The human spat. He screeched in pain when the rogue took him by the neck and hefted him up, throwing him across the room and into Geoff. _

The entire room was silent when the heard the weak whimper that the Alpha on the screen let out. Gavin was choking back sobs, curled up between Joel and Ray, who were holding him close. Ryan, was leaning against the wall, eyes closed as he listened.

_ Geoff tried to scurry away from Michael, only to realize they were against a wall. A visible shudder passed through his body and he closed his eyes, swearing under his breath. Alexander walked over to them, crouching down and lifting Geoff’s chin up with a finger. This revealed to the camera the deep mark in his shoulder. “How’s your hunger going, Ramsey?” the rogue purred, digging a sharp nail into the wound, opening it wide. “I’ve been bleeding you for days now, I’m impressed that you haven’t taken a snack yet.” Leaving the cut to bleed, he turned and walked to the door in the room, behind the camera. “I don’t think you’ll last much longer.” _

_ The sound of a door closing echoed on the video, and after a moment Michael was pressing his hands on Geoff’s shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding. “Do you need more, Geoff?” the human asked in a voice that sounded hoarse, like he had been screaming. _

“More? What the fuck does he mean more?” Burnie grumbled, leaning closer to the screen, eyebrows furrowed.

“He wouldn’t dare.” Ryan spoke up, his voice a level of cold and detached that Burnie had never heard before. He frowned, turning back to the screen in time to see what happened next.

_ Geoff’s hand reached up shakily, resting on the side of Michael’s face. “Y-you sure?” His voice sounded strained and weak. _

“Oh no.” Jack murmured. He whirled around to share a sharp look with Ray and Joel. “Get Gavin and Ryan out.” The two nodded, Ray trying to pull Gavin out of the room with him, Joel going to move Ryan. The pureblood just snarled at the man, making him back off. 

_ Michael had unrolled his sleeve, revealing a fairly new bite mark on his forearm. He brought it to Geoff’s mouth. “Just a pick-me-up.” he whispered. “Just enough until the guys find us.” _

“Geoff! No!” Gavin shrieked, struggling in his friends grips. Burnie had frozen in place, shocked by the scene before him. Behind him, Ryan let out a low growl.

_ Geoff shuddered before nudging Michael’s arm with his face gently. “I’m so sorry.” he whimpered, before sinking his teeth into the human’s arm, beside the other mark. Michael let out a hiss of pain, barely keeping his body from flinching away. He waited until he saw some color return to the gent’s face before tapping on his shoulder, signaling for him to stop. _

_ The vampire released him instantly, tearing his mouth away and gasping, shuddering. His eyes were still burning a bright red color, violent shakes passing through his body as he fought the instinct to dive back for more blood. “We can’t keep doing this every time I need to heal, Michael.” he growled, gripping his rumbling stomach. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop next time.” _

_ “No, you can’t.” Both men tensed and whirled around, seeing Alexander standing by the camera, walking into view for the footage. They hadn’t even heard him return. “You both deserve a punishment now, I think.” He advanced towards them, and Michael glared at him, standing up quickly and blocking him from Geoff. Alexander frowned and tilted his head. “Your acts of ‘courage’ have grown tiresome, human. I think it’s time you learn just how weak you truly are.” _

_ “I’m stronger than you thi-” Michael was cut mid sentence by his own scream of pain, crumpling to his knees, his hands flying to his head. _

_ “See, funny thing about being marked by a pureblood, you aren’t as weak to our little tricks as other humans. All vampires can control humans minds, you see, even the youngest fledgeling. Unfortunately, it takes centuries of practice before you can use this ability at will. Consider it more of an instinct. Younger vampires use it automatically when feeding, lulling their prey into a false sense of security. As long as the vampire is full on blood, they can utilize this power. A blood starved one, not so much. Now, what does this have to do with you?” Alexander chuckled, running his hand through the ginger’s hair, earning a snarl from Geoff. “A vampire weaker than your precious mate would not be able to alter and mould your mind. With a little extra effort, however, a stronger vampire like myself can break your mind down, and force it to bend to me.” Alexander narrowed his eyes more, and Michael let out a screech of pain, falling sideways to the ground. _

Ryan gasped and fell to the ground as well, his hand shooting to his temple, teeth gritted in pain. “Ryan?!” Burnie yelped, kneeling beside him and placing his hands on the man’s shoulders. “Ryan, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” The younger just weakly shook his head, shivering, tears in his eyes. He suddenly became very still, eyes wide and glowing red, a distant look in them.

_ Michael had fallen still as well, his hands now limply at his sides. His eyes had a vague look in them, and he stood up slowly. Alexander smirked and beckoned the man forward with a finger. “Come here, blood-bag.” he purred. Michael walked over mechanically, an emotionless look on his face. “I’m feeling a little peckish. How about a snack, hmm? Seeing as you were feeling so generous.” _

Ryan whimpered in pain, his entire body tensing up and buckling over. “No…” he whined softly, squeezing his eyes shut. “Michael, no.” On screen, the human had robotically tilted his head to one side. Ryan jerked himself up, looking straight at the video.

“MICHAEL!”

* * *

 

The world was a soft buzz. All he could understand was Alexander’s words. He knew he had to listen to them. The vampire was always right after all, and always knew what was best. And it hurt his head so much to resist. So he tilted his head to one side, a blank smile on his face as he waited for the fangs to pierce his neck.

_ “MICHAEL!” _

The voice rang through his head so clearly. Like he was actually there. But who was he? Where was he? Michael became so confused in that moment, and in his mind he chased the voice to its source, a man crumpled on the ground in pain, somewhere far away. Why did he feel like he knew that man. The air around him seemed so warm, so right. He wanted to go there, to embrace it. He knew it. It reminded him of love.

“Ryan?” the human murmured, blinking a few times before coming to. A quick glance around reminded him where he was, in the stupid cell trapped by the crazy vampire. The very same crazy vampire whose fangs were now inches from his neck. “What the fuck?!” Michael snarled, whipping away from the attacker.

The vampire frowned and bared his teeth, taking a step back. He could sense the pureblood’s presence around the human, protecting him. His eyes narrowed, and he made his way to the camera, shutting it off and taking it off the tripod. “Odd.” he mumbled. He took a pace towards the human, but felt almost like he was being blocked by an unknown source. He growled and bared his fangs before whirling around and abruptly leaving.

Geoff was on the boy in a minute, hugging him close tightly. “Michael! Are you alright? What happened?”

Michael sighed and sank to the ground in exhaustion. “I don’t know. One moment it was like my entire world revolved around that monster, the next it was like Ryan was right there, sharing my pain. I heard him. He called out to me.” he sighed and yawned.

Geoff frowned and slung an arm around the young human’s shoulders. “You connected with him, from this far away?” the lad shrugged, his eyes already flickering shut. Geoff sighed and shook his head, curling around the human, offering him the little bit of warmth his body had.

Maybe tomorrow they would be found.

He hoped so. He didn’t think he could last much longer, even with the little offerings that Michael gave him.

He needed blood. He needed a lot of it.

* * *

 

“Ryan?” Michael’s whimper was plain as day in Ryan’s head. He honed in on it instantly, and in his mind ran after it until he found his mate. Geoff had curled protectively around the lad, and both men had fallen fast asleep.

Something deep within him told Ryan where he was. When he blinked, he was back in the room with the others, gasping for air.

Ryan gasped, looking up at Burnie, his eyes returning to their normal blue color. A smile came to his face as he quickly stood up, gripping the elder pureblood’s shoulders. “I know where they are.”


End file.
